Sen. Murdock files bill in North Carolina Senate to fund community health centers

A new bill filed by State Sen. Murdock seeks to allocate funds to support community health centers in distributing long-acting reversible contraceptives to underserved patients, according to the North Carolina State Senate.

The bill, filed as SB 352 on March 19 during the 2025 regular session, was formally listed with the short title: ‘Community Health Center Grants for LARCs.’

The following is our breakdown, based on the actual bill text, and may include interpretation to clarify its provisions.

In essence, this bill appropriates $2.5 million annually from the General Fund to the Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Public Health, for the 2025-27 fiscal biennium to award grants competitively to nonprofit community health centers. These centers must use the funds to purchase and distribute long-acting reversible contraceptives (LARCs) to underserved, uninsured, or medically indigent patients. LARCs are birth control methods that provide effective contraception over an extended period without user action, are temporary, FDA-approved, and require a prescription from an authorized health care provider. The act takes effect July 1, 2025.

Of the three sponsors of this bill, Murdock proposed the most bills (28) during the 2025 regular session.

Bills in North Carolina follow a multi-step process before becoming law. A lawmaker starts by filing a bill, which is assigned to a committee for review. The bill must be read three times in each chamber. If one chamber changes the bill after the other passes it, both must agree on the final version. Once both chambers approve the same bill, it goes to the governor, who has 10 days (or 30 if the legislature is not in session) to sign, veto, or let it become law without a signature.

You can read more about the bills and other measures here.

Murdock graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a BA.

Murdock, a Democrat, was elected to the North Carolina State Senate in 2020 to represent the state’s 20th Senate district, replacing previous state senator Mickey Michaux.